British Open 2013 Live Stream: Online Viewing Info and More

The 2013 British Open gets underway on Thursday, and for those on the working grind unable to catch the action in the U.S. due to the early air time, there are online viewing options available to see how the tournament develops.

While Tiger Woods is the expected favorite with 8-to-1 odds in the latest projections by Bovada, there are plenty of formidable challengers in recent winners Graeme McDowell, Phil Mickelson and defending champion Ernie Els among others.

However, it is worth looking at several of the world-class players in the field who will likely fly under the radar a bit in the 142nd version of this wonderful championship.

Let's take a look at the live stream information for the opening round, and then at a trio of prospective contenders seeking their first major victories at Muirfield Golf Links.

Note: Statistics are courtesy of PGATour.com and EuropeanTour.com. British Open information was obtained from the official website. Tournament history can be located at the Official World Golf Ranking.

Round 1 Online Viewing Information

Live Stream (h/t Watch ESPN, where all events are available):

Start time	Event
2:30 a.m.	The Open LIVE
4 a.m.	Live First Round (International View)
4 a.m.	Live coverage of Holes 1, 7, 8, 9 and 18
3 p.m.	First round encore presentation
7 p.m.	Best of The Open Championship encore presentation

Real-Time Leaderboard Updates: The Open

*For complete online viewing information for all four days, visit Watch ESPN. Odds below are courtesy of Bovada and are current as of 4 p.m. on July 17.

Long Shots to Watch For

Thomas Bjorn (66-1)

The veteran Dane is a two-time runner-up at the Open Championship, and he finished tied for eighth in 2002 when the event was last played at Muirfield.

Bjorn has enjoyed a solid stretch of play on the European Tour over the past month and a half, notching four top-eight finishes and two second-place efforts. Although he missed the cut at the Scottish Open, it's not necessarily a reflection of how he's played.

As a 13-time winner in Europe, there's no question Bjorn can seal the deal even though he hasn't quite done so in recent years.

ESPN's Rick Reilly alluded to the major champions who have gotten it done past the age of 40, but was instead referencing Lee Westwood as a possible late bloomer:

If there is anyone over 40 to bet on, it's the 42-year-old Bjorn, who has the requisite accuracy, Open experience and success at Muirfield in the past to get it done.

Jamie Donaldson (100-1)

Years of grinding finally paid off when Donaldson won the Irish Open for his first European Tour victory, and he backed it up by winning the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in January.

The latter was extremely impressive, and on a narrow course where Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy failed to make it to the weekend. Donaldson's resolve can't be questioned; it's paid dividends in putting him up to No. 38 in the world rankings.

A rough patch of play occurred after that win, but Donaldson has returned to form recently.

He defended his Irish Open title admirably by placing in the Top 10, then was joint sixth two weeks ago at the Alstom Open de France.

Some may point to a shallow major record, but he did tie for seventh at the 2012 PGA Championship, and simply didn't have his best stuff at The Masters this year, though he did make some interesting history in the process of missing the cut (h/t Shane Bacon of Yahoo!):

A T-32 wasn't a disaster at the U.S. Open, either, and was the beginning of Donaldson rounding back into form.

It may seem like a long shot, but Donaldson should be considered a serious threat despite a thin major championship pedigree.

Graham DeLaet (100-1)

The rapidly rising Canadian is simply one of the best ball strikers on the planet, leading the PGA Tour in greens in regulation percentage in finding the surface at a 72.38 percent clip.

DeLaet started off his 2013 campaign nightmarish on the greens, but has improved significantly with the flatstick, now ranking 88th in strokes gained putting.

Hitting so many greens inevitably hurts that number, so it's a bit of a deceiving ranking since DaLaet is often not putting from close range.

In any event, DeLaet is also pounding it over 300 yards off the tee yet still finds the fairway over 65 percent of the time.

Another element of DeLaet's game that makes him dangerous is the fact that he's 15th in scrambling on tour. All of these skills seem to make him a contender more people should be talking about despite his quiet emergence.

BBC reports the weather in Gullane as relatively calm and sunny, so don't be surprised if DeLaet goes really low in at least the first round. DeLaet even told Dave Perkins of The Toronto Star that Muirfield's swirling winds shouldn't bother him much, citing his upbringing in Saskatchewan where he dealt with harsh winds all the time.

Whatever happens thereafter will be interesting, because he's playing in his first Open. However, Graham DeLaet may be a name golf fans hear far more in the near future.